22nd DAY: Tokyo City

The hotel reception wanted to assure we left by 10am, bikes and all. They didn’t like the idea of us leaving any bags or our scooters there while we were in central Tokyo. Our plan was to stay up all night and go back early in the morning as soon as the day broke. We went to the station to put our bags in the lockers, and find a place to park our scooters without having to pay. We found the perfect spot amongst some other scooters and bicycles at an apartment complex near the station. We put them license plates facing the wall in case anybody noticed our Osaka plates. As we were getting ready, someone came home and saw us there. We got a little paranoid they might call the towing company or something. We left trying not to think about it.

It was a long train ride but I was excited to see what the boast about what the most expensive city in the world offered. First on the list was Shibuya where the famous pedestrian crossing is. Not so interesting, unless you like to shop. We found a good Indian restaurant and filled our bellies with nice warm curry. Other than that, there isn’t much to see so we walked towards Shinjuku where there are more malls, some nightlife and the Japanese style red light district.

On the way there, we stumbled upon this stadium. There were many people walking in so we followed. Inside was a big wrestling competition for children. It was real entertaining to see so many children interested in such a sport in Japan. I figure it’s because it’s similar to sumo. Nigel thinks it’s because they’ve got a bid in for the Olympics in 2016 and they’re preparing.

Either way, it gave us something to do other than the usual tourist stuff. The stadium was next to the park so we ventured in. There were people doing all sorts of activities, such as, tap dancing, hip hop dancing, playing catch, running, cycling, bubble making, and even 2 fenced off areas for dogs, separated by weight. I’m glad we decided to walk from Shinbuya to Shinjuku, otherwise, we wouldn’t have seen this common life.

It was now getting dark so we made our way to Shinjuku.

Apparently, you can find used girls underwear in vending machines and other strange things but we found none of that. We just saw the normal cigarettes, drinks, and food tickets for restaurants. We walked into one business thinking they’d be in there but to my surprise, we found a small stall full of girl’s pictures. I’m not sure but my guess is you choose one of the girls and the owner calls her to meet you for services. Dangerous to have one of these around after you come out of a bar, drunk and horny.We walked around the small area just to check it out. One of the hundreds of hustlers on the streets trying to pull people into their establishment started talking to us. He could even speak Chinese. I was impressed. His Chinese was better than mine but that’s not saying much. He followed us for about 50m telling us we can get in for free, the girls take off all their clothes, many beautiful girls, etc… I would have had a peak if it weren’t 12000yen ($130US) for an hour. The girls probably didn’t even speak English anyways.

We were a little curious what the fascination was to Japanese men so Nigel really wanted to try one with Filipinos. The poster said 980yen for 40 minutes all you can drink, which sounded reasonable so I agreed. It was a brand new bar so it was quite well decorated. The problem was the girls all looked too old for my liking. They ushered us to a seat with a bottle of whiskey. I failed to realize that that was what they were offering for all you can drink. I naively ordered a beer, then 2 more. During that time we chatted to the women, and sang a couple songs on the karoke machine. It was fun but you know these women were only talking to you because it’s their job. The 40 minutes were up and after declining to stay longer, they gave us the axe to the jugular. Each beer was 1500yen ($16US). Our bill came out to 7100 yen ($80US). We left there feeling completely robbed and furious at ourselves for not being more careful. This is after the women were telling us that we should be careful for the African hustlers at Rapongi, the place with pubs and discos where we were heading to next. It was them that we needed to be careful for. Never will I make that mistake to go into one of those places again!

We got out the station, turned the corner and bam, there they were. The street was lined with Africans. They weren’t afraid to talk to anybody but I was happy to know that they’d leave you alone if you asked, unlike the other Japanese guy. We stopped and had a conversation to one of them. He was real nice. He told us how they’d come here to make money and look for a Japanese wife to get away from the strife in their own country, fair enough, makes sense. The next guy we talked to is named Dennis. He was happy to meet me but we kept going. We saw Kingston Reggae bar so we stopped there and finished off our beers from 7-11. In the process, we talked to another guy. He talked about his previous business but went bankrupt and how he has a wife there and how he’s trying to start something new. He was from the delta in Nigeria so he must be happy to get away from that.He escorted us up to his bar. It was still happy hour until 11pm so drinks were a reasonable 500yen instead of the usual 1000yen in that area. You weren’t allowed with no beer in your hand, either, otherwise, they’d kick you out. I had a bottled Guiness. There weren’t many people inside but the music was good. We were having fun but it was time to go to 911.

We’ve been searching all over Japan for a real disco where there is a dance floor or one that’s bigger than 3m squared. The search was over. I’m pretty sure Rapongi is the only place in the entire country. I wanted to test the rule about the beer so I didn’t order a drink until they asked. It took them about 30 minutes before they approached me but I didn’t want to go as far as to see if they’d boot me out. As the night continued, it got super congested in there. Many girls but I couldn’t find one that stunned me. I approached a few but was unsuccessful. Nigel on the other hand met a cutie. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a friend that could entertain me. She felt tired and offered us to sleep at her place since she knew our situation. Nigel gladly accepted. I accepted not so gladly but the alternative seemed bleak. I waited outside for them to get ready. In that time I talked to a cute Korean. She was positive, and offered to introduce me to her friends but then Nigel came and said he was leaving and if she could take care of me. She said it was cool to hang out as long as I didn’t latch on to her. It didn’t look so positive anymore so we got into a taxi and left.

We had no idea where she lived but 15 minutes, and 4500yen later we arrived. She lived with just her father. She had the entire upstairs to herself. We hung out in the living room for awhile but she had to pack to go to Hawaii the following day and she said she had to wake up at 9:30am so they left. I happily slept on the foldable couch with a blanket and air conditioning.